Metering panel-board.



A. O. MQWILLIAMS. METERING PANEL BOARD. APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1910.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

Patented May 6, 191-3 A. 0. MQWILLIAMS. METERING PANEL BOARD. APPLICATION FILED MAY13, 1910.

Patented May 6, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- l U ITED-warns PATENT! FFI EI ARTHUR o. 'KcWILLIAMS, on'c'nrcaeo, ILLINOIS.

unrnnxne raNEn-Bomn.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, Airmen C. MoVVnr |.1',Ms,a citizen of the United-States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and. State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Metering Panel- -Boards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention, relates. to metering panel boards; and is similar in-some respects to the invention shown in my copending application filed April 25, 1910, Serial Number 557,535. In the construction illustrated in that application, the circuit bars have arow of sockets into any one offwhich a bushing and fuse plug may be inserted for connecting to the underlying-meterbar. In that construct-ion the'meter bars must-be spaced as far apart as the centers of the sockets. In the present construction the bushings are slidably mounted upon the circuit bars, and

may, therefore, be located at any point on the bar with the result that the meter bars may be placed much closer together. This econom'izes space, which is one of the objects of my invention. --Fur therm0re, it prevents the'removal of the bushi by an unauthorizedperson which is anot er object; of the invention.

Another object i s-t0 provide advantageous means for connecting the circuit bar to the desired meter bar.

It is also an object of my invention to pro- 4 vide an improved form of connector whereby the circuit bars may be connected to the circuit I obtain my objects by the mechanism illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in

which Figure 1 is a general view of the panel board showing the same connected up to mete'rs and consumption circuits. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the apparatus. Fig-3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2. Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are views of componentparts of the connector.

Similar reference charactels denote simi-' lar parts throughout the several views.

In the form selected to illustrate the invention the meter bars a are mounted parallel to each other upon the board I) and are separated by walls of insulation e. which preferably rise above the surface 'of bars a, as best shown in F ig. 2. \\'hen installed the meter bars are permanently connected to the respective meters in any suitable manner.

Specificationlot Letters Patent. Application filed May'13,1910. Serial 'No. 561342..

. bcard transverse to themeterbars and are .clevated so as to' stand some little distance above the top of the meter bars and insulating walls. The circu'itflbars arelongitudb nally slotted and slidinglysupport the bush- "conducting material, and remain in electrical contact with the circuit bars when shifted Patent-edhlay 6, 1913.

The, circuit bars (I are mounted upon the I ings e, which are madeof-cop'peg-or other 'to the different positions. preference the bushings are heldlin pps integral; flanges e, whrchipa'd' upbfi the top of the bar and rings are: innefd or otherwise rigidly secured;

of the bushings: and -'coii't:iict "tiie' iunder side respectively of a connector, i whichconsists of copper" or othe r"conducting'-material.

z", the parts being all vertically movable in Said head's i and i are connected by a stem f 90 block 1:. Said connector is normally held in of the bar. The bushings-fare internally raisedposition by means'of a spring located between block li-sand the under side of the. up r head i. The parts areso con structed at .when the-fuse plugis oiit the spring 1' will hold-the connector in raised po- "sition so that, the lower headj= will clear the walls a and permitthe bushing to be shifted longitudinally of .the circuit bar. Whema plug is introduced and screwed downnmto the bushing it will force the connector down-- ward and cause it to make .eleclrical connection at the upper end w|th the center-of underlying meter bar.

The preferred means far; connecting a the fuse plug andat the lower, end with the circuit bar to its respective circuit con:

duetor is best shown in [*igs. 2. 4. 5 and 6. The circuit wire-ha is ledup through the bottom of thesplit bushing 11 which 5 llr fingers a :u the bottom. the sides iwhez-e f are outwardly tapered so as to back of the board and is screw threaded at' make a wedge/fit in the correspondingly tapered bushing o. Bushing '0 .is let into the its upper portion to screw'into the foot of 6 the circuit bar (Z. The split bushing 12. is internally threaded to engage the lower end of l the bolt 7), which passes'down from the top of bushing 0. These parts are all made of conducting material and the result is that when bolt 7) is tightened it Will draw upward on the bushing n and cause the fingers n to be crowded inward and securely engage' the wire By prefe're ce a finished apcut positions or stations-said (stations may he close together,; it being unpearance is given to the connection by covering the same with a cap nut. r. The remaining side of each consumption circuit is suitably connected to the source of supply,

the arrangement here illustrated being the 1 same as the one shown in. my copending apphcation above mentioned. Bus bars 8 are arranged-across the top of the board and I these are connected to the source of supply bysuitable conductors. ,They are adapted toyreceiv'ea number "ofsfuse plu s t, which connect the bus bars to the di erent consumption circuits.

. -In' operation, any given consumption circuitjmay'be thrown onto any desired meter by first backing off or entirely removing the fuse; plug from-the circuit bar which is con nected to the consumption circuit in question, and then shifting the bushing length-' wise'on the bar until it overlies the proper meter bar. The connection is then established by merely screwing the plug into the bushing. Qn 'accountof this construction in which the bushings are slidable to differpositions or necessary to space them as far apart as in my copending-applicationi- The result is that the meter bars may be located close together, in consequence of which a single circuit bar may extend across a great number of meter bars, thus affording a wide range of choice of meters for each circuit bar.. The available spacefor metering panels is usually very restricted in office buildings and in other buildings where this kind of apparatus is used, and as myconstructionenables the complete apparatus to be brought into a very small compass it is of great advantage- Another advantage of my construction is that the bushing cannot readily be removed, also that there'is no danger of'connecting a given consumption circuit to more than one meter ata time for there is but a single bushing upon each circuit bar, and, therefore only one fuse plug can be accommodated. It will be noted also that the circuit bars employed in this board areof very simple construction, and they are, therefore, cheaply ard easily made and are not liable to get out of order.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and d ters Patent is l 1. In a metering panel board, a set of parallel permanent conductors, apermanent cross conductor, a slidable clement mounted esire to secure by Leton said cross conductor and a connector for p establishing electrical connection between. saldcross conductor and the desired one of said parallel conductors, said slidable element and said connectormaking interiitting screw connections with each other, and said slidable element being slidablc'to different positions upon said cross conductor to t iereby remind the operator, after the ad- 'justment has once been made,'what.par-

ticular conductor the.connector should .en-

gage. t

2. In .a metering panel board, a .set of parallel permanent conductors, a permanent cross conductor, a threaded bushing slidable -upon said cross conductor, and a? screw plug adapted to serewdownward into said bushing to establish the connection between the cross conductorand the conductor beneath, the threads on the bushing and plug serving to increase the pressure of contact between the bar-and the bushing to thereby increase the electrical efficiency or. the connection.

3. In 'a' metering panel board, the 'combinationof a set of. parallel meter bars, a circuit bar extending across them-a slight distance awayffr'om them, an internallythreaded socket bushing slidably mounted 'upon saidcircuit bar and electrically in contact therewith, a connector adapted to contact the meter' bars,- and means adapted to screw into 'said' bushing for electrically connecting said connector to said bushing.

4. In a metering panel board, the epmbination of a set of parallel meter bars, a' circuitbar extending across thema 'sli ht distance. away from them, a bushing.- s id ably mounted upon said circuit bar and. electrically in contact-therewith, a connector.

adapted tocontact the meter bars, and a fuse plug screwing'into said bushingfor connecting. it to said connector.

5. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a set of parallel insulated bars,

establish electrical. connection between said transverse bar and the selected 'one of said parallel bars.

. 7. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a'setof parallel insulated bars, a transverse bar crossing above them, a conducting bushing making sliding contact with said-transverse bar, an insulating block carried by said bushing, a normally raised connector carried by said block, and a fuse plug adapted to screwinto said bushing for depressing said connector for the purpose described.

8. A metering panel board having crossed permanent conductors, the conductors running one way being for the meter circuits, and'those running across them being for the consumption circuits, an internally threaded socket bushing; of conducting material adapted to slide upon and, make contact with the consumption circuit conductor, and means screwing into said bushingf for electrically connecting it to the adjacent meter conductor.

9. Apparatus of the class described comprising a bar of conducting material, a bushmg of conducting material permanently secured to said bar and adapted to slide along it, a connector in said bushing, a set of conductors beneath said bar, and a fuse plug screwing into said bushing for contacting said connector and holding it in contact with the selected one of said conductors.

10. Apparatus of the class described comprising a slotted bar of conducting material, a bushing of conduc'tin material permanently engaged within the slot of said bar and slidable along said bar, a set of conductors underlying said bar, and means for electricallyconnecting said bushing with the selected one of said conductors.

In witness whereofll have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

ARTIHUR o. MoWI LLIAMS.

Witnesses: 1

HOWARD M. Cox; MARGARET D. ROBB. 

